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ADDRESS 



DELIVERED AT THE FOURTH CONVENTION OF THE 



@rabuak0 auir illembtrs 



WEST NEWTON STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 



JULY 24, 1850 



By EZRA S. GANNETT, 

MIMISTER OF THE FEDERAL STEEET SOCIETY IN BOSTON. 



PUBLISHED BT REQUEST. 



^BOSTON: 
CHARLES C. P. MOODY, 

1850, 



I-C 



Gri'^ 



ADDRESS. 



On an occasion like the present he "whose privilege it is to 
appear before you, by an invitation which, as it must be grateful to 
receive, it would be more than uncourteous to refuse, not only finds 
the subject of his remarks suggested by the circumstances under 
which he meets his audience, but is restricted by a regard to obvi- 
ous propriety from any wide range of topics. The graduates of an 
institution, the sole object of which is female education, would not 
willingly listen to an address that did not treat of such culture as 
is here enjoyed, in its connection with the character or influence of 
the female sex. In attempting to speak of education as the means 
of establishing woman in her proper position in society, I may 
therefore anticipate a sympathy that will dispose you to receive my 
thoughts with the indulgence which they will need. 

It may occur to some who hear me, that the selection of this 
theme, at least under the form in which it has now been stated, 
is unfortunate, as it throws in our way one of the most difficult 
questions of our own, or of any period, — What is the proper posi- 
tion of woman in society ? Who can give an answer to this ques- 
tion, that all will concur in accepting ? At the risk of exposing 
myself to the imputation of arrogance, I cannot but hope a reply 
may be offered, that shall not meet with dissent. I would define 
the proper position of woman to be, that in which she may exert the 
most direct and largest influence consistent with the preservation of 
feminine delicacy and sensibiUty. So long as her influence is confined 
within narrower bounds, she does not fill her rightful place in society ; 
and when it transgresses the limits which I have indicated, she ex- 



changes that place for one that may give her more notoriety, but 
which all must see is less suited to her sex. 

The progress of society towards the highest civilization may be 
traced along the ages of the past, by the position which woman 
has held at different periods. In countries where barbarism pre- 
vailed, and where society existed rather in its elements than in an 
organized form, we might expect to find the female sex degraded 
and oppressed. We should look neither among the savage nations 
of antiquity, nor among the aboriginal tribes of our own continent, 
for examples of the respect and tenderness which are due to the 
mothers of a people everywhere. But it may surprise us to dis- 
cover in cultivated Greece so little appreciation of the true worth 
of woman. Personal beauty and intellectual accomplishment com- 
manded admiration, but it was an admiration that could load her 
with a worse dishonor than that which she endured under the hands 
of her barbarian taskmasters. The explanation of this remarkable 
fact may be found in the connexion which seems always to exist 
between the religious ideas of a people and their appreciation of the 
female character. Paganism cannot but be unjust to woman, be- 
cause it has no correct standard of moral judgment. It regards 
her as an instrument of toil or as a minister to corrupt pleasure, and 
does not see in her the qualities that are essential to perfection. 
Hence, in the East, she is either secluded from observation, or is 
cast out to contempt — doomed to the indolent and frivolous life of 
the harem, or exposed to neglect and want. Hence Chinese civil- 
ization is as far from recognizing her proper relations to society, as 
was the old Roman culture. From the same cause, a want of 
just moral ideas founded on a correct religious faith, Mahomedanism, 
instead of elevating woman above the position which she occupied 
among the nomadic tribes when the Prophet arose, reduced her to 
a still lower place in the estimation of his followers. An enlight- 
ened piety, by its influence on the moral sentiments, has always 
been favorable to the claims of the female sex ; and it is particularly 
worthy of notice, that the Bible, even in its earliest pages, speaks 
of woman with regard and honor. She is the " help-meet " of man, 
his companion, and bosom-friend. The language of the Jewish 
lawgiver, and of the Hebrew prophets, is suited to inspire a pure 



and high tone of feeling towards her. It is to the New Testament, 
however, that she is indebted for her emancipation from the circum- 
stances with which ignorance and passion had surrounded her. 
Christianity lifts her into a loftier region of associations than had 
before gathered around her sex, and, by revealing the nature and 
destiny of the human being as a child of the Infinite Father, 
restores her to the position which she held in the original purpose 
of the Creator ; while the example of Him who loved the sisters of 
Lazarus as dearly as the brother whom He raised to life, and who 
bent his gracious regards on his mother amidst the agonies of the 
cross, is a perpetual lesson for which both sexes should feel a com- 
mon gratitude. It is only when Christianity determines the civihz- 
ation of a land, that it reaches the point at which woman enjoys the 
estimation to which she is entitled according to the Divine arrange- 
ment of society. 

It may be worth a moment's delay, to look at the practical result 
of such an estimation. The terms in which I have already described 
it, as the exercise of the most direct and largest influence consistent 
with the preservation of feminine delicacy and sensibility, might not 
satisfy all persons. They who are fond of insisting on " the rights 
of woman," may consider this description as ambiguous or decep- 
tive ; though in no other, certainly, than an honest and intelligible 
sense would we use it. But what does the expression which we 
have just borrowed, import ? No one denies that woman has her 
rights. Are they the same with those of the other sex ? Much 
that is said on " the equality of the sexes " might suggest such an 
interpretation. This last quoted phrase, however, is not free from 
ambiguity. It is a political axiom with us, that men have equal 
rights ; yet no one understands this as a declaration that they have 
equal rights to everything. They are not entitled to share alike in 
all the blessings of existence. They have the same right to the air 
and the sunshine, to the means of knowledge and virtue, to the con- 
scientious exercise of opinion ; but they have not all the same right 
to occupy the Presidential mansion, or to take a seat in the halls of 
Congress. Neither the Constitution nor common sense allows it. 
We say with truth that all men are equal, because reason and ne- 
cessity impose the limitations which make it true. All men are not 



6 

equal in size nor in strength ; and never were meant to be. When 
therefore, we speak of the equality of the sexes, we must be pre- 
pared to accept certain limitations. They are not equal in all 
respects, and were not meant to be. There are physical differences, 
and there are mental differences. The one has more vigor, the 
other more delicacy of frame ; the one has more executive force, the 
other more discursive fancy ; the one discovers more logical con- 
sistency, the other more enduring affection ; the one is distin- 
guished by intellectual acuteness, the other by passionate sensibility ; 
in the one reason predominates, in the other sentiment. Man oc- 
cupies, together with woman, the broad region that stretches between 
the two extremes of character ; but he can never sink into such heart- 
withering debasement nor rise to such angelic purity. They have 
rights in common, and they have their respective rights which are 
not in common. If this be not true, then there must be a mutual 
relinquishment of what are now considered on either hand as vested, if 
not as natural rights ; woman must give up her right to preside in 
the nursery, as well as man his right to conduct the affairs of state, 
and the art of the sempstress must be as equally divided as the art 
of the orator. 

Nothing so rediculous as this, we are told, is intended ; but only 
that each of the parties should yield to the other the possession of 
certain theoretical or abstract rights, which by mutual consent, and for 
the common benefit, shall be always held as abstractions, while there 
shall be practically such a concession, or such an admission, as shall 
insure a virtual equality in the enjoyment and the control of the 
social order. Now this is just what we want, and what we main- 
tain would be secured in the best, if not the only, way by a recip- 
rocal acknowledgment of the distinctive traits of each sex, and a 
practical recognition of the respective spheres of action which these 
traits prescribe. Under this system of equations, which does not 
make a and h the same, nor always of the same value, but which 
makes the sum total of the terms on one side equal to the sum total 
of the terms on the other side, society would present the spectacle of 
parts combined in the happiest relations, and concurring to produce 
the greatest efficiency of the whole and of each part. What is 
needed, is not masculine women, nor effeminate men ; girls prepar- 



ing themselves to be legislators, nor boys preparing themselves to 
be milliners ; but boys growing up to be men, and girls growing up 
to be women, and men and women striving, not to gain the closest 
resemblance to one another, but to win from each other the respect 
and esteem which shall be deserved by fulfilling well their several 
parts in the economy of hfe. You do not wish, young ladies, to 
enter the scenes of martial conflict or of political strife, because 
you know that you would not only serve your country and your age 
less wisely than in the employments which you have chosen, but would 
personally lose more than you would gain. It is by retaining that 
which distinguishes you from man, not by laying it aside to compete 
with him in manly efforts, that you can make yourselves felt most 
poAverfully, as well as most beneficially, in all human affairs, public 
and private. Go upon the merchant's exchange, or into the Senate, 
and your voices will be drowned by voices louder than yours ; but 
let your appropriate employments be graced by your peculiar vir- 
tues, and the merchant and the senator will unconsciously, if not 
with an open consent, proclaim your influence to the world. Why 
should the lark covet the eagle's strength of wing ? Her own mel- 
odious warblings, as she mounts into the clear sky, win for her a 
more sincere admiration than would the attempt to imitate the proud 
bearing with which he confronts the fiercest rays of the sun. 

The very expressions, therefore, which are used, like cabalistic 
words, to call up shapes of accusation and discontent for imagined 
wrongs, when rightly understood teach us to complete rather than re- 
construct the social edifice to the inheritance of which we were born ; 
and confirm us in the belief, that woman's proper position can never 
give her any other influence than that which, in its most direct ac- 
tion and largest extent, shall leave her in possession of the delicacy 
and sensibility which belong to her sex. 

It is such an influence, as we have seen, that Christianity permits, 
and enables, her to exercise. But the aims of Christianity are contin- 
ually thwarted by opinions and customs whose roots, imbedded in 
the soil of ancient heathenism, still supply a vital force antagonistic 
to the truth. Some subsidiary power is needed, to bring the results 
which the Gospel announces into actual exhibition ; and therefore 
we speak of education as establishing woman in the position which 
Christianity indicates as properly hers. 



Harmless as such a proposition may appear to us, there are those 
who will hold it to be fraught with mischief alike to Avoman and to 
society. And, curiously enough, this apprehension will be shared 
by persons of opposite tendencies. While some Avill dread what they 
may regard as an indirect attempt to depreciate those spiritual in- 
fluences by which alone any one of our race can be fitted for the 
hiiihest honor or the widest usefulness, others will conclude that the 
artificial processes to which it shall be subjected must rob the fe- 
male character of its native simplicity and freedom. Such fears, on 
the one hand and the other, arise out of a narrow or false interpre- 
tation of the term which the purpose of our present remarks leads 
us so frequently to use. Education, so far from shutting out the 
higher aids which the soul needs to fit it for the divine offices of 
life, includes them as essential to its own completeness or efficiency. 
We do not consider a human being as educated, who has been 
taught only the rudiments of science, or who has been made familiar 
with its more abstruse methods. Knowledge is not education, but 
only one of its means. Education applies to the whole man, not to 
a part only of his nature. An atheist, though he should have written 
the Mecanique Celeste, would be but partially educated. Many a 
scholar whose mind was stored with information from books, and 
many a writer whose profound speculations have given him fame, 
must be placed under the same description. The courtesy of former 
times, still lingering among us, induces us to speak of those who have 
passed through a regular course of collegiate instruction, as educated 
men, but it is a courtesy which, while it conveys a reproach upon 
many whom it seems to honor, does injustice to multitudes who 
have never entered the lecture-room of a college ; for it not only 
puts a mark of degradation on such men as Bowditch and Frank- 
lin, but it dooms the whole female sex, the Somervilles, the Edge- 
worths, the De Staels, the Sedgwicks, to take their place among 
the uneducated populace. We use the word in no such restricted 
sense. Education embraces the whole structure and being of man. 
To train him for a pugilist or a warrior, is to do but a small part — 
perhaps to do no part — of the work. To familiarize him with the 
processes of reasoning is to do but a part. To give him the use of 
"all the tongues that Babel cleft the world into," is to do but 



a part. Does a knowledge of grammar, geography, arithmetic, 
natural philosophy, physiology, and all the other hard named sci- 
ences that have found their way of late into our school-books, consti- 
tute a child's education ? This is only a part of the coarser work, 
needful indeed, like much of the labor or material needed in build- 
ing our houses, but least considered by the architect. The deep 
foundations on which character rests, the solid beams which hold its 
walls together, and even the form and finish it shall present to the 
eye, are more important. Education takes in the whole character, 
the wiiole life. We are complex, not simple beings. Complex- 
ity of structure is that which distinguishes man ; the disem- 
bodied spirits above him, the animals below him, have not such 
a various being as his. Man's life is manifold ; he has a bodily 
organization, a mental frame, a moral constitution ; he has senses, 
and intelligence, and a soul. They must all be educated, and be 
educated contemporaneously and harmoniously. He who trains the 
physical frame, must remember that it is not a brute that he is 
teaching to move with freedom and grace. He whose office it is 
to inform and discipline the intellect, must remember that mysteri- 
ous connexions bind the faculties which are under his care to a 
frail body, and yet more mysterious sympathies draw those facul- 
ties towards an Infinite Object. While he who attempts to assist 
the soul in its progress towards perfection, should remember that ' 
neither asceticism, nor inward contemplation alone, can give to the 
spiritual exercises of such a being as man the character which for 
his own good they should bear. To educate one, is to consult for 
his whole capacity and his whole advantage, — to teach him and to 
help him to become what he was meant to be by his Creator. 
Hence, education is the highest service which man can render to 
his race. Nay, what higher service is man capable of receiving ? 
Is not the purpose of Providence education ? Is not the meaning 
of life education ? Is not nature contuiually supplying instruction, 
which circumstances obhge us to accept and use ? Is not the 
Gospel of Christ, while in its primary design a remedial agency, in 
its subsequent action an educational process, training the soul to 
live ever nearer to the Infinite Good ? The faithful and wise teacher 
in the school-room cooperates with all Divine influences, and all 

9 



10 

Divine purposes. If he understand his work, he will aim at his 
pupil's improvement in every respect, and not at a result that shall 
only show how much can be accomplished, by a forced diver- 
sion of the energy which God has distributed through our whole 
nature into the nourishment of one part. The husbandman who 
wishes his vineyard to furnish proof of skilful care, allows the stock, 
the foliage, and the fruit, each to have its due share of the vitality 
which belongs to the vine. He is a poor teacher in whose hands the 
mind puts forth an exuberant promise, while the bodily health suffers, 
or the fruits of a worthy character are never ripened. 

Education, when properly conducted, cannot constrain the na- 
tive freedom and grace of woman, because its effect will only be 
to unfold her powers in harmonious exercise. The word suggests 
its own meaning. To educate is to lead out, to unfold, to develope. 
The aim of the teacher should not be to give, but to call forth. No 
lesson has been properly taught or properly learned, which has only 
deposited certain facts in the memory. What does the dancing-mast- 
er, or the music-master do ? He teaches the child how to use his 
limbs, or his voice. The instructor in the day-school teaches the 
child how to use his faculties. Self-culture is the unfolding of our 
various powers in their relative order and mutual dependence, by 
means of judicious exercise ; 

" For, by the laws of spirit, in the right 
Is every individual character 
That acts in strict consistence with itself ; 
Self-contradiction is the only wrong." 

Growth, rather than acquisition, is what we should aim at. Prac- 
tice is the law of perfection. If it be a mistake to require a single 
lesson beyond the physical strength of the pupil, it is a mistake, 
equally pernicious, to regard an exact recitation as the end of the 
lesson. To bring the faculties of the mind into earnest employment, 
to create habits of attention and self-control, to strengthen the active 
powers of our nature, our whole nature, — this is what every part 
of instruction should contemplate as its only successful result. A 
learned pedant is as deformed a being as the idiot whose overgrown 
head proclaims his sad condition ; the one is an abortion of nature, 



n 

the other a reproach to education. The most highly educated wo- 
man is she in whom intelligence has never trespassed on the grace 
of gentleness, whose dignity of person is but dignity of character 
shining through the transparent medium of a sincere address, and 
whose lovehness we the more admire because we see that it is the 
blended expression of mind and heart, as we prize the mingled deli- 
cacy of flower and perfume in the mignonette more than the bril- 
liancy of the tulip or the stronger fragrance of the musk-rose. Hard 
study or generous culture suited to lesson the attractions of woman ! 
It will be soon enough to believe this, when the names of Joanna Bail- 
lie and Elizabeth Barrett, and a hundred others, are forgotten, or 
Avhen the value of unwrought gold is diminished by passing through 
the refiner's fire and under the engraver's hands. 

Education tends to establish woman in a position in society where 
she may exert the greatest influence, because it brings all the pow- 
ers of her nature into the healthiest action, and exhibits the elements 
of her character in the happiest relations to each other, and to things 
about her. It takes away nothing that would secure for her atten- 
tion or deference, while it gives new beauty to every aspect of her 
being. A well educated woman knows how to think, and thought 
is the world's ruler. Must she be ignorant of culinary mysteries or 
the wonderful art by which " auld claes " are made to 

" Look amaist as weel 's the new," 

because she can read Homer or Whewell ? There is no necessary 
connexion between a perusal of such pages and a loss of the 
fingers' aptitude for domestic service. But if there were, on a 
close calculation of profit and loss I doubt if we should think we 
showed our . wisdom — I speak now of my own sex — in preferring 
the nice preparations of the kitchen, or even a carefully mended 
garment, to the companionship of a mind that had learned to exer- 
cise the faculty of clear and vigorous thought. A well educated 
woman knows how to talk, and conversation is a mightier instru- 
ment than Alexander's sceptre, or Prospero's wand ; for it controls, 
not the outward conduct or the visible shape, but the opinions and 
sentiments of mankind. Oh, that women understood the power of 



12 



the tongue, — not in the way of noise, but of influence. Sy a miser- 
able prescription of satire, they have the credit of loving to talk ; let 
them deserve the reputation of talking well, and we should hear no 
more complaints of their subordinate position in society. A well 
educated woman knows how to act^ — not only in an emergency, 
but on the common occasions of life, when half the world are at 
fault, embarrassed by idle fears, entangled in needless perplexities, 
or incapable of accomplishing what they might and should do through 
sheer awkwardness. Timely and suitable action is power, whatever 
be the circumstances that call it out. Education ripens good sense, 
directs without hardening the sensibilities, and sends the law of 
conscience along the threads of the nervous system. A well edu- 
cated woman knows how to behave, and behaviour is to the soul what 
the strings of the ^olian harp are to the atmosphere, — the means 
of conveying its hidden music to another's perception. What is that 
charm of high-bred manners, which even the admirer of democratic 
institutions cannot resist ? It is indescribable, perhaps, but not the 
less real. It comes from sentiment and association. The more just 
the sentiment and the more worthy the association, the greater must 
be the refinement of manners. Not in the homes of England's 
aristocracy, rather than in any dwelling where intelligence and 
purity have together woven the vesture of character, will you meet 
with true refinement. It is not rank that makes the lady, but truth 
and worth. A well educated woman, in a word, knows how to esti- 
mate herself, and therefore how to make herself what she should be, — 
chief among the objects of interest or the examples of success in this 
world ; for Pope's famous line, 

" An honest man 's the noblest work of God," 

w ould have had more the flavour of truth with such change as 
this : 

A full-formed woman is God's noblest work on earth. 

Full formed in person, in mind, in character ; whose expressions 
of countenance are gushes of pure feeling, whose thoughts are hke 
the intuitions of spiritual insight, and whose life is the obedience of 



love ; such an one as Wordsworth has described in verses which, 
familiar as they are to our ears, can never be repeated too often : 

" A being breathing thoughtful breath, 
A traveller betwixt life and death ; 
The reason firm, the temperate will, 
Endurance, foresight, strength, and skill, 
A perfect woman, nobly planned, 
To warn, to comfort, and command ; 
And yet a spirit still, and bright 
With something of an angel light." 

In the arrrangements of domestic life, the care of the j^oung de- 
volves on woman. To the mother is almost wholly committed the 
formation of the child's character during that period when it 
is most susceptible of impression, and when truths, like seeds drop- 
ped by the wind, are taken into a faithful soil, where at last they 
germinate, and spring up in a luxuriant growth. Or if, in the holy 
providence of God, the child is deprived of the oversight which 
maternal affection would bestow, it is still from the female sex that 
we ask for it that tender guidance which its early years require. 
What an invaluable power is here entrusted to woman ! The charac- 
ter of each successive generation is put under her plastic discipline. 
Now, who will use this power to the greater advantage, alike for 
herself and for the children who will take the complexion of their 
lives from her, — she who has cultivated her own nature faithfully, 
or she who has spent her time in a routine of mechanical duties ? 
Will not the mother who understands the structure of the human 
frame, and the laws of health which she herself observes, be more 
likely to fasten upon childhood habits that shall give a firm develop- 
ment to the organs, and proper opportunity to the functions of the 
body, than one who has no acquaintance with these subjects be- 
yond what she has gained through an inevitable experience ? 
Would not one who had studied the writings of Stewart and Hartley, 
of Paley and Dymond, be better qualified to guide the first steps 
of the young being through hfe's incidents, than one who knew noth- 
ing of intellectual or moral philosophy ? Would not she who had 
read the Bible thoughtfully and habitually be better able to ex- 
pound its truths, than she with whom it was a closed book ? And 



14 



must not the self-control which a well educated woman would main- 
tain, give to her example and her words an authority that they 
could never have without such personal watchfulness ? In her re- 
lations, therefore, to the young who fall immediately under her eye, 
the education which she shall have previously enjoyed will he just so 
much, important and needful, preparation for the tasks she is now 
called to discharge. Her influence will deepen and spread with her 
facility in addressing the several powers to which she must admin- 
ister excitement, while careful also at the proper time to impose on 
them the requisite restraint. If the women of our country were 
all well taught, in things both earthly and divine, what a spectacle 
would the next age present ! A generation of intelligent, indus- 
trious, moral, devout, and happy men. Would not such a specta- 
cle attest the worth of education in those who give the youthful 
spirit its bent and law ? 

In the intercourse of life we value a person according to the 
acquaintance which he may exhibit with the subjects that chiefly 
engage our attention, since this acquaintance evinces an interest 
like our own, and betokens an abihty to give us needed counsel. 
Nothing, therefore, could tend more directly to enlarge female influ- 
ence than such an education as should put the sexes on a common 
ground of knowledge in regard to practical affairs. We have already 
signified our indisposition to witness such an adjustment of the social or- 
der as would draw woman into the same active pursuits with man. We 
should be as little inclined to encourage her to spend her hours 
among the anxieties of commercial enterpise, or in the business 
of legislation, as amidst the perils of a sailor's vocation or be- 
neath the exposure of field labour. But she may understand the 
principles and history of an art which she does not practise, and 
may be competent to give advice which she shall never in her own 
person convert into example. At present women generally can give 
their husbands or their brothers little assistance in the discharge of 
the duties which specially fall within the province of the stronger sex. 
From this distribution of mental excitements, as well as physical 
labours, arises a two-fold evil which marks our present civilization. 
The sexes are too much separated from one another by the subjects 
which respectively engross their thoughts, and he who most needs 



15 



counsel or sympatlij in the trials which assail his integrity, cannot 
seek it from her by whom it would be given under circum- 
stances most adapted to increase its effect. The only way in 
which this evil can be obviated is the instruction of women 
in the matters which occupy the minds of those with whom they 
are connected by the intimacies of domestic union. Can 
any one doubt that they would exert a more positive influence 
in society, if, though unversed in the details of mercantile and 
political life, they were qualified, by their study of the principles 
which should govern the merchant or the statesman, to indicate the 
course he should take in any contingency or under actual embarras- 
ment ? Let the professional man be able to unburthcn himself of 
his cares in the bosom of his family, and they will sit less heavily on 
his breast. Let the artisan or the farmer be able to converse at 
evening on the employments which have consumed his day with her 
who has promised to share his lot in life " for better or for worse," 
and his toil at the anvil, or the plough, will be easier and sweeter 
to him the next day ; he will be a happier man, and will bring more 
to pass with his sinewy muscles. Female education should include, 
as within its lawful scope, instruction in every thing, except sin. 
Not, of course, do I mean that a woman should attempt to know 
every thing ; but nothing should be considered as lying beyond her 
grasp or approach, nothing be allowed among human pursuits, an ac- 
quaintance with which should be regarded as either above her capa- 
city or beneath her dignity, — nothing, which, like the old Egyp- 
tian mysteries or the esoteric doctrines of the philosophers, she must 
not think of knowing. Political, as well as natural, science should 
be studied, and political history be read, by her. She should be 
conversant with the industrial concerns of the country, and should 
be ashamed to confess an ignorance of the principles that underlay 
the tariff or the banking-system. Medicine and law should not be 
prohibited to her glance, but should invite her freest examination. 
She should know something of engineering, the building of rail-roads, 
and the construction of steam-boats. All departments of human in- 
quiry and human industry should be open to her inspection. Were 
I the autocrat of Russia, instead of regulating by an imperial de- 
cree the length of men's beards or the style of their dress, I should 



16 



be much more ready to issue an edict forbidding any woman to 
marry a man whose business she did not understand sufficiently to 
hold conversation with him upon it, that should be mutually in- 
structive. Where she had not enjoyed any previous means of acquir- 
ing such knowledge, I would impose a period of preparatory study 
as an indispensable condition of a legal marriage. If any one 
should suggest that I might fill the country with examples of the 
truth, that " a little learning is a dangerous thing ;" I would an- 
swer that love makes one an apt scholar, and that under such 
a despotism as I have supposed, a system of educational institutions 
might be arranged, which should provide every young woman with 
facilities of study that would justify her in claiming the confidence, 
and in guiding by her advice the action, of the other members of 
the household. Think of the immense power that would then be 
wielded by her sex. We need only call to our remembrance the ex- 
amples of those who have intermeddled with the affairs of state or 
the progress of science, to foresee the change in the social position 
of woman, when, instead of being banished from every earnest dis- 
cussion of subjects that sharpen the wits of men, she should take 
her part in such discussions, as they might be held around the do- 
mestic board or the winter's fireside. 

There is one bond of connexion between the education of wo- 
man and her social influence, too important to be overlooked. Many 
of the educated daughters of a land become its writers, who, 
through their contributions to the periodical literature of the day, or 
by the more elaborate productions of their pens, form the tastes and 
opinions of their age. Fearful is the author's privilege ; who may give 
a direction to thought and a tone to character, that shall be felt long 
after his ashes shall have mingled with the dust of past generations. 
It is not the writer who gives us the fruit of the most profound study, 
that has the most power over his fellow-men. While his works may 
be known only to a few of congenial tastes, thousands shall read the 
pages of a fictitious tale, or an ephemeral pamphlet. While Mill 
or Hallam has a select circle of admirers, or critics, Scott's roman- 
ces are known wherever the English tongue is spoken, and Dick- 
ens's " Household Words" enter our doors like familiar friends. It 
is impossible to compute the amount of good or harm that may be 



17 

traced to the light literature of the day. Of this literature woman 
furnishes her proportion, — of various quality, but never so poor or 
so bad that it will not command readers. There is yet a higher 
style of authorship to which she has shown herself equal, and to 
such writers as Miss Strickland and Mrs. Child society pays a 
merited respect. Now it should be observed,, that the demand for 
female talent in the department of letters is continually increasing, 
and continually rising ; as the facilities for the circulation of books 
through cheaper modes of publication and more rapid means of con- 
veyance are augmented, and as the ability of woman to cope with 
the other sex is more clearly established. We may anticipate, 
therefore, an accumulating power in her hands through the instru- 
mentality of the press. How anxiously should every Christian, and 
every friend of his country, desire that this power may be directed 
by a conscientiousness too strict to permit any bribe of success to 
mislead it into the support of a loose morality or a covert skepti- 
cism ! Genius is Heaven's most splendid gift to man, but when 
perverted by selfish ambition, it is an angel's wing used to fan the 
fires of hell. That woman has ever consented to expend her influ- 
ence in the diffusion of error and the encouragement of vice, is one 
of the saddest facts in the history of our race. No thoroughly edu- 
cated woman will do this ; no thoroughly educated woman can do 
it. I care not how gifted she be by nature, if she pander to evil 
thought, her intellectual depravity proves that she wants the very 
rudiments of a proper discipline. The woman who can guide the 
pen of George Sand over the manuscript which she means to send 
into the world, whether policy or shame induce her to hide her own 
name beneath such a disguise, is fit only for an infant form in the 
school of good morals. But let the female author be just to her 
opportunity and to herself, and she may register her name high 
among the benefactors of the world. The talent and learning of 
her rival sex — if rivals they be — will pay her homage ; childhood 
will bless her pure endeavour, while the wisdom of experience shall 
invoke a large reward on her efforts ; and, as it was said by one in 
former times that he would rather write the songs than frame th-e 
laws of a people, so shall the hero and the statesman, beholding 
woman's influence, prefer her honours to their own. 
3 



18 

There is yet one other channel through which woman may spread 
her thought and her will abroad, to shape the fashion of the time 
and form the temper of a coming age. In the office of teacher she 
exercises the highest function of her life. It is as a teacher, that 
the parent puts her impress on the soft character of the child, to 
become a permanent record as years give that character consistency. 
It is as a teacher, that the man of science, the scholar, the artist, 
the master workman, transfers his own mind into that of his pupil. 
It was as a teacher, let us gratefully remember, that the Son of 
God pronounced those ''beatitudes" which have wrought such 
changes in human judgment and human aspiration. It is as a 
teacher, let us reverently repeat, that the Infinite Being communi- 
cates the knowledge and the enjoyment of his Divine perfections to 
his children on earth. 

Instructiou comes at God's behest, 

To make man wise, and leave him blest. 

See then the privilege for which the teacher should be thankful, the 
trust to which she should be faithful. See how she may labour in 
concert with all truth and love, with all that is beneficent in hea- 
ven and all that is excellent on earth. See how she holds an influ- 
ence which every day augments, as it gives her a wider sphere of 
action and a firmer hold on those whom that sphere encloses. See, 
too, how important her own education becomes to her, as the means 
of fitting her for the position which she assumes. An untaught 
teacher may get some good herself from successive failures, but she 
can only harm those to whom her attempt to be their guide is an 
affront. The education which she should bring to her task, — 
though ill-chosen is this word — to her noble office, let us rather 
say, — should be various and thorough ; never complete, for it never 
can be, — but as large and as accurate as circumstances will let her 
make it. Why was the profession of the teacher undervalued in 
former years ? Because neither the teacher himself nor the com- 
munity required of him that ample preparation which was necessary 
to make him an. object of sincere respect. When the school-master 
wrought eight months of the year on his farm, and then took up the 
ferule as his badge of office for the four months in which to work in 



19 



the fields was impossible, or the college lad came, with no experi- 
ence but that which had given him a sophomore's self-conceit, to earn 
by the toils, (if not wasted in the frolics) of a winter vacation 
money enough to pay his next quarter's bill, — when the former knew 
not what to teach, and the latter knew not how to teach, — who can 
wonder that teaching was considered neither as an art nor a pro- 
fession, but only as an episode and a device. , Education should be the 
teacher's business, and, therefore, it should be learned. The sound 
maxim that what is worth doing at all is worth doing well, seems to 
have been applied in New-England to every thing else sooner than 
to the schoolmaster's work. There must be not only knowledge, 
but aptitude, — ability of communicating, as well as capacity of 
receiving. Of what avail would be all the learning that was ever 
crowded into a Person's head, if he could not impart it to others, 
nor awaken in them an enthusiasm that should be their guide along 
the path of acquisition ? Of what use is the brightest light within 
a lantern whose sides are opaque ? There must be an aptitude to 
teach, and this must be gained by experience and by judicious as- 
sistance. There must be a love of teaching, and this must be en- 
kindled by sympathy and success. If here seem to be an exorbi- 
tant demand of prerequisites for the teacher's oflSce, remember 
that we are speaking, not of teachers as they have been, nor as they 
are in every instance now, but of teachers as they should be, and 
as they will be hereafter, at least so far as our Normal Schools 
shall supply them to the country. We are speaking of teachers 
who are worthy to hold — nor worthy only, but sure to hold — the 
most authoritative yet persuasive power known in the land. We 
are speaking of woman, when in the teacher's office she exercises 
an influence which, without endangering the delicacy or the sensi- 
bility that belongs to her sex, makes her not only mistress of hearts, 
but the former of character and the ruler of life. 

To those who enjoy the advantages of such an education, I need 
not have said what they already include among the postulates of 
human belief. It is not for their information that I have treated a 
theme on which their minds are already furnished with materials 
for a correct judgment. It has been a grateful office, to trace in 
simple lines the truths which define woman's proper position in 



20 



society, and point out the method by which she may reach that po- 
sition. The graduates and pupils of a Normal School understand 
the design of the institution which assembles them on its successive 
anniversaries, amidst its pleasant associations, too well, to leave it even 
within the bounds of decorum, that I should attempt here to pour- 
tray their privileges or their duties. Let me only remind them, 
that the Normal scholar leaves a name which she should never for- 
get. She is a rule for others, a standard by which they may 
measure and fashion themselves. How blameless then should be 
her life, how progressive her character ! She teaches as she lives. 
The world is her school-room, and society her pupils. Let her ex- 
ample illustrate the meaning of her favorite motto : " Live ever to 
the truth." 

The success of the enterprise to which the legislature of our State, 
under the impulse and with the aid of private liberality, has 
given a trial of sufficient length to secure its future continuance, 
rdust fill our hearts with joy. Massachusetts can show no more con- 
clusive evidence of her foresight and public spirit, than the Normal 
Schools which she has established. May they crown her with honor, 
and strengthen her claim to the respect of her sister States ; and 
in the distant future may her effi^rts in behalf of female education, 
and her desire to place woman in her just position, be the last tokens 
of her wisdom that shall be effaced by the hand of oblivion ! In the 
museum of the Vatican at Rome are the tresses of a lady who lived 
whether in the days of the Caesars or of the republic is unknown, 
which are said, however, to have been found in a tomb on the Appian 
Way, in a state of perfect preservation, while all other remains of 
her, her kindred, and her generation, had perished. In the changes 
which come over the fortunes of nations, our present strength may 
decay, the political and social renown of New England perish, even 
her colleges and her churches be forgotten, and of all in which 
Massachusetts rejoices nothing survive the waste of ages, except 
the glories which female education shall have shed upon her 
name. Then may some future antiquarian disinter from the long 
closed receptacles of the past the records of this institution, the fair 
memorial of the character once borne by our Commonwealth, the 
only imperishable vestige of her life ! 



ORDER OF EXERCISES 

AT THE 

FOURTH CONVENTION OF THE GRADUATES AND MEMBERS 

OF THE 

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL, 

WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 1850. 

I. HYMN— ORIGINAL. 

(music FOK the day by LOWELL MASON, ESQ.) 



Once more with jojful hearts we come, 

With greetings warm and true, 
To welcome back each well known face, 

And happy hours renew. 

We gladly leave our present toil, 

One moment here to gaze, 
On scenes which memory brightly gilds, 

With light of other days. 

As thus we pause in busy life, 

To breathe the pure fresh air, 
Which watts from days that long are past, 

Sweet memories lingering there; — 

We feel new courage for our work, 

New strength in every vein, 
The cheering sunlight of this day, 

Will in our souls remain. 

'Tis ours to place pure wisdom's crown. 

Upon the brow of youth ; 
To speak in love those holy words, 

" Live ever to the truth." 

Together, side by side, we stand. 

Pledged to this noble cause ; 
God grant us strength to do His will, 

To love and teach His laws. S. L. D. 



22 

II. PRAYER, BY REV. MR. WHITE, 
in. WELCOME ADDRESS, BY THE PRINCIPAL, MR. STEARNS. 

IV. SONG. 
V. PRIVATE MEETING. 



Exercises in tlie Cliiirch, at 11 o'clock, A.M. 

I VOLUNTARY. 

II. PRAYER BY REV MR. GILBERT. 

in. HYMN. 

IV. ADDRESS BY REV. DR. GANNETT, OF BOSTON. 

V. SONG. 



Onward, Onward, is our nation's cry, 
Learning's cause can never die ! 
Onward, Onward, one and all reply. 

Onward, Onward, is the loud demand, 
Learning smiles on every land ! 
Onward, Onward, still in heart and hand. 

Onward, Onward, flow ye streams of light, 
On, till earth is free from night ; 
Onward, Onward, in Education's might. 

Onward, Onward, spreading virtue's reign, 

On, till earth is free again ; 

Onward, Onward, spreading virtue's reign. 

Onward, Onward, roll the tide of good, 
O'er the earth thy sacred flood, 
Onward, Onward, roll the tide of good. 

Onward, Onward, freedom's sacred cause, 
Freedom guarded e'er by righteous laws; 
O award, Onward, Education's cause. 

VI. BENEDICTION BY REV. MR. OTHEMAN, OF CHELSEA. 



23 

From the church the Convention proceeded to the town hall, which, 
as well as the hall of the school, had been decorated with much taste, 
by the members of the Institution, to partake of refreshments provided 
for them. Rev. Dr. Sears, Secretary of the Board of Education, 
presided at the Collation, and the Divine blessing was invoked by 
the Rev. Dr. Gannett, of Boston. The tables were served by the 
undergraduates, by whom the repast had been prepared. Excellent 
addresses were made by Dr. Sears, and Mr. G. B. Emerson, of 
the Board of Education, G. F. Thater, Esq., of Boston, Rev. B. 
Fox, of Boston, and Rev. Mr. Carpenter, of England. The fol- 
lowing songs were sung : — 

SONGS AT THE COLLATION. 



Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 

And never brought to mind, 
Should auld acquaintance be forgot. 

And days of lang syne ! 
For auld lang syne at school. 

For auld lang syne, 
We '11 have a thought of kindness yet, 

For auld lang syne. 

"We oft have cheer'd each other's task, 
From morn to day's decline, 

But memory's night shall never rest, 
On auld lang syne. 

For auld lang syne, &c. 

Then take the hand that now is warm, 

Within a hand of thine. 
No distant day shall loose the grasp, 

Of auld lang syne. 

For auld lang syne, &c. 



24 

n. ORIGINAL. 

Now when summer gay is o'er us, 
Now when life seems ail before us, 

We here have met. 
Brightly beaming hope has led us, 
Brighter pleasures since have held us, 

Till we must part. 

Yet we will not part in sadness, 

For our hearts are filled with gladness, 

Thanks for tiiis day. 
We each other's hearts have strengthened. 
We each other's joys have lengthened. 

By love's kind sway. 

Love, her band is closer weaving, 
As nearer draws our time of leaving, 

Scenes held most dear. 
Yet " good bye " we '11 say in gladness, 
For we do not part in sadness, 

Faith, hope is near. M. G. C. 

o 

In the evening, the Convention reassembled in the school hall, where 
a splendid gold watch, chain and pencil, were presented, in belialf of 
lier former pupils, to Miss Elkcta N. Lincoln, who had long 
been a most able and successful teacher in the school, and whose resig- 
nation had been that day announced. After some time spent in delight- 
ful social intercourse, and the passing of votes of thanks to the Orator, 
and Chaplains of the day, — the Committee of Arrangements — to the 
many persons, who had, in various ways, kindly assisted in the prepar- 
ations for the Festival, — to the Parish Committee of the Second Con- 
gregational Society, for the use of their church, and to the Selectmen 
of Newton, for the town hall, the Convention adjourned to meet agaia 
in two years. 






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